Collier Circuit Judge Christine Greider sentenced Mesac Damas to death on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. Damas had pleaded to guilty to killing his wife and children in 2009.

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Mesac Damas, who pleaded guilty to murdering his wife, Guerline Dieu Damas, and their five children in September 2009 in their North Naples home, enters a Collier County courtroom in East Naples for his sentencing Friday, Oct. 27, 2017.(Photo: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News)Buy Photo

In the end, Mesac Damas got the sentence he long has said he wanted for the brutal 2009 killings of his wife and five young children — death.

After more than eight years of heartbreak, frustrating legal delays and Damas’ bizarre courtroom antics, Collier Circuit Judge Christine Greider on Friday morning sentenced him to death on each of six counts of first-degree murder — one for each of his family members whose throats he viciously sliced late on a September 2009 night in their North Naples townhouse.

The sentence brings resolution to the most horrifying Southwest Florida murder case in recent memory.

With his guilt never really in doubt — Damas confessed to multiple people, including a Daily News reporter, in the days after he was found in Haiti after fleeing the country — the only real question was: Would he be executed or would he live out the rest of his life behind the walls of a Florida prison?

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Mackindy Dieu, brother of Guerline Dieu Damas, is overcome with emotion Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, after Collier Circuit Judge Christine Greider sentenced Guerline's husband, Mesac Damas, to death. Mesac Damas had pleaded guilty to murdering Guerline and their five children in September 2009 in their North Naples home.(Photo: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News)

Death is what Damas, 41, always said he wanted — he wanted it swiftly, he said, so he could join his family in the afterlife.

Death is what prosecutors said they believed he deserved from the outset.

“From the first day of this case, we thought the death penalty was the appropriate sentence,” Chief Assistant State Attorney Amira Fox said after Friday’s hearing.

With their client seemingly on a suicide mission, Damas’ court-appointed lawyers received little cooperation from him as they fought to save his life.

Some days he wouldn’t speak to them. He tried to have them removed from the case so he could represent himself. He waived his right to a jury, or to have mitigating evidence presented on his behalf.

With a 12-person jury, it takes only one holdout to prevent the death penalty, said James Ermacora, one of Damas’ two lawyers. But with Greider as the sole fact finder and arbiter of justice, the defense lawyers faced an uphill battle.

“Realistically, I don’t think we expected it to go a different way,” said Ermacora, who called the death penalty a “barbaric anachronism” that serves no societal purpose.

“When you look at this case, if you have the death penalty and it’s the law, it’s hard to come up with a more compelling case for the imposition of the death penalty.”

Friday’s hearing, which began shortly after 9 a.m., lasted 1½ hours. Grieder, who took over the case last month after the previous judge recused himself, was the only one who spoke.

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Collier Circuit Judge Christine Greider oversees the sentencing hearing Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, for Mesac Damas, who had pleaded guilty to murdering his wife, Guerline Dieu Damas, and their five children in September 2009 in their North Naples home. Greider sentenced Damas to death.(Photo: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News)

Point by point, she laid out the case before her; the eight-year history of the court proceedings, the sometimes grisly facts of the crime, the aggravating factors that suggested Damas deserved death, the mitigating factors — the fact that Damas grew up in a violent household and might have an undiagnosed mental illness — that weren’t enough to spare his life.

She read from Damas’ own words about the killings — how a threat of divorce, the prospect of losing custody of his kids and concerns about infidelity turned him into a “madman.”

“Only death would separate us,” Damas once told his wife. “Divorce me, I (expletive) kill you.”

Greider read from Damas’ statement to Collier County Sheriff’s Office detectives about the voices he said he heard the night of the killings, the “bad spirits” that made him kill, and the Voodoo attacks he believed he was under at the hands of his mother-in-law.

This focus on God and religion and spirits and demons — a tense mix of Evangelical Christianity and traditional Haitian Voodoo — was present throughout Damas’ case.

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Photos are displayed, showing Guerline Dieu Damas, center, and her five children -- Meshach "Zack," 9; Maven, 6; Marven, 5; Megan, 3; and Morgan, 19 months. All of them were killed in September 2009 in their North Naples home. Mesac Damas pleaded guilty to murdering his wife and five children and was sentenced Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, to death.(Photo: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News)

It was a lapse in his Christian faith before the killings that had left him vulnerable to a demonic attack or hex, he later would tell a defense expert, a specialist in Haitian religion.

Greider spoke of the 55 yards of duct tape — more than half a football field in length —Damas used to bind his wife before threatening to kill the children in front of her. He ultimately killed her first.

She said the evidence shows Damas is uncooperative, manipulative and deceitful.

“The aggravating factors proved beyond a reasonable doubt in this case outweigh the mitigating circumstances reasonably established by the evidence and warrant that the defendant, Mesac Damas, be sentenced to death,” Greider said, showing little emotion.

“There is nothing in the defendant’s background or mental state that would suggest that a death sentence is disproportionate.”

Damas remained silent, his head on the defense table, throughout the proceedings.

The family of Guerline Dieu Damas and her five children – Michzach, 9, Marven, 6, Maven, 5, Megan, 3, and Morgan, 1 – sat quietly throughout the hearing. They dabbed their eyes with tissues at times. Some family members left the courtroom briefly to avoid the most graphic details of the crime.

They quietly hugged one another after the death sentence was handed down; a melancholy victory.

“The emotional rollercoaster is over. Its finally time for the Dieu angels to rest in peace,” Mackindy Dieu, the younger brother of Guerline Dieu Damas and uncle to her five kids, said in a post-hearing press conference standing in front of photos of the family.

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Relatives of the late Guerline Dieu Damas react Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, to hearing Collier Circuit Judge Christine Greider sentence her husband, Mesac Damas, to death. Mesac Damas had pleaded guilty to murdering Guerline and their five children in September 2009 in their North Naples home.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Mesac Damas had pleaded guilty to murdering his wife, Guerline Dieu Damas, and their five children in September 2009 in their North Naples home. Collier Circuit Judge Christine Greider sentenced him Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, to death.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Family members of the late Guerline Dieu Damas react to hearing Collier Circuit Judge Christine Greider sentenced Mesac Damas to death during a sentencing hearing at the Collier County Courthouse Friday, Oct. 27, 2017 in Naples. Damas who was found guilty of killing his wife Guerline Dieu Damas and their five children in September 2009.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Mackindy Dieu, brother of Guerline Dieu Damas and uncle to her five children, is overcome with emotion after Collier Circuit Judge Christine Greider sentenced Mesac Damas, the man who murdered Guerline Dieu Damas and their five children in September 2009, to death during a sentencing hearing at the Collier County Courthouse Friday, Oct. 27, 2017 in Naples.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Mesac Damas, who was found guilty of killing his wife, Guerline Dieu Damas, and their five children in September 2009, enters the courtroom for his sentencing hearing at the Collier County Courthouse on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, in East Naples.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Family members of the late Guerline Dieu Damas comfort one another during the sentencing hearing for Mesac Damas, who was found guilty of killing his wife Guerline Dieu Damas and their five children in September 2009, at the Collier County Courthouse Friday, Oct. 27, 2017 in Naples.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Collier County Circuit Judge Christine Greider oversees the sentencing hearing of Mesac Damas, who was found guilty of killing his wife Guerline Dieu Damas and their five children in September 2009, at the Collier County Courthouse Friday, Oct. 27, 2017 in Naples. Greider sentenced Damas to death.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Relatives of the late Guerline Dieu Damas are overcome with grief Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, during the sentencing hearing for her husband, Mesac Damas, who had pleaded guilty to murdering Guerline and their five children in September 2009 in their North Naples home. Damas was sentenced at the Collier County Government Center in East Naples.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Mesac Damas has his fingerprints recorded Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, after Collier Circuit Judge Christine Greider sentenced him to death. Damas had pleaded guilty to murdering his wife, Guerline Dieu Damas, and their five children in September 2009 in their North Naples home.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

A memorial wall of the late Guerline Dieu Damas, center, as well as her five children Ñ Meshach "Zack," 9; Maven, 6; Marven, 5; Megan, 3; and Morgan, 19 months Ñ all of which were murdered in September 2009 by Mesac Damas. Damas was sentenced to death Friday, October 27, 2017, over eight years from the date of the crime.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

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Dieu called for the public to honor his family members by remembering who they were; a strong and resilient mother and five children who had their whole lives ahead of them.

He noted six dates — Feb. 9, March 21, July 15, July 21, Aug. 28 and Sept. 9, the birth dates of each of the victims — as more significant than one date, Sept. 18, the day of their deaths.

“For all these days our family will celebrate the lives that came into this world,” Dieu said. “And these dates are far more important to highlight than the day these lives were lost.”

The legal case against Damas dragged on for more than eight years, marked by fits and stops — a trip to a state mental hospital, challenges to the state’s death penalty law, and a rotating door of public defenders and judges (Greider was the fourth judge to oversee Damas’ case).

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Relatives of the late Guerline Dieu Damas are overcome with grief Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, during the sentencing hearing for her husband, Mesac Damas, who had pleaded guilty to murdering Guerline and their five children in September 2009 in their North Naples home. Damas was sentenced at the Collier County Government Center in East Naples.(Photo: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News)

To the public, the case against Damas might have seemed clear, said Rich Montecalvo, deputy chief assistant state attorney. But he said, “There’s no such thing as a slam dunk in any criminal case.”

“Death is different. Death penalty cases are different, so we have to make sure everything is done right. If it means spending a little extra time doing it, we’re going to do it,” Montecalvo said.

There were no Damas family members in the courtroom, which was packed with about 90 people.

Tears ran down the face of Damas’ mother, Marie, at her East Naples apartment after the hearing Friday. She said she is in “big pain” and hopes to see her son before he leaves for death row.

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Relatives of the late Guerline Dieu Damas console one another Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, during the sentencing hearing for her husband, Mesac Damas, who had pleaded guilty to killing Guerline and their five children in September 2009 in their North Naples home.(Photo: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News)

“I can’t eat,” she said. “I can’t sleep.”

Damas’ case will now head to an automatic appeal before the Florida Supreme Court, which will review it for errors. After that, there are likely years, if not decades, of post-conviction proceedings through every level of state and federal court.

In the coming days, Damas will be sent to a prison in North Florida where he will be housed on death row. For the rest of his life, he will spend up to 23 hours a day in a 6-by-9-foot cell with no air conditioning and little human contact. His hands and feet will be shackled every time he leaves his cell.

Collier County Sheriff’s Office Chief Chris Roberts, who has been active on the case since Day 1, said it's not right to say the reason for the killings was family strife or Damas’ fear of divorce. The sole reason for the killings, he said, was “a narcissistic individual who just got sentenced to death.”

Damas, he said, is “a vile individual (who) got what he had coming.”

“I’m not sure he ever gets that, but he got as close as the justice system can give him,” Roberts said.

“To have five children killed by their father at the ages of 9 down to 1 is just unconscionable.”

Death row and executions in Florida

There are 356 people on death row in Florida, second only to California. Mesac Damas will be the 357th Florida inmate on death row and only the second from a Collier County case, joining Brandy Bain Jennings who was sentenced to death in 1996 for killing three people during a holdup of a Naples Cracker Barrel restaurant. There are five death row inmates from Lee County.

Florida has executed 94 people since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The most recent execution was Michael Lambrix, 57, on Oct. 5, for killing two people after a night of drinking in 1983. The first known execution in Florida was in 1827, when Benjamin Donica was hung for murder.

Florida leads the nation with 27 death row exonerations since 1973, followed by Illinois with 20 and Texas with 13.

Florida allows inmates to choose if they will be executed by electrocution or lethal injection. The state’s three-legged electric chair was constructed from oak by Department of Corrections personnel and installed at Florida State Prison in Raiford in 1999. It replaced the state’s original electric chair, built from oak in 1923.

The executioner in Florida is a private citizen who is paid $150 per execution.

Relatives of the late Guerline Dieu Damas react Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, to hearing Collier Circuit Judge Christine Greider sentence her husband, Mesac Damas, to death. Mesac Damas had pleaded guilty to murdering Guerline and their five children in September 2009 in their North Naples home.(Photo: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News)